In our work in the rural highlands of Bolivia we are promoting improved animal husbandry to generate increased consumption of animal-source foods (ASF), that is, meat, eggs, milk, and offal. The nutrition science behind the promotion of ASF is wellestablished, but until recently, there was little evidence that promoting improved or increased animal husbandry would have any impact on the consumption of ASF. This is important: Agriculture development projects are riddled with agricultural successes but nutritional failures – the agriculture intervention may be widely adopted and be successful in increasing production, but they are often nutritional failures, because they do not lead to improved diets.

However, within the last few months a number of publications have demonstrated increased ASF consumption from animal husbandry related interventions.

1. A study in Rwanda showed that families that were recipients of a cow or goat through Heifer International’s livestock donation program ate substantially more ASF than non-participants (approximately 10 liters more of milk per month, or 200 grams of meat per month per household).

And see here for a newspaper article on the topic.

2. A study in Kenya showed that women who owned a cow drank approximately twice as much milk (165 grams/day if their cow was dry or 256 g/d if their cow was currently producing milk) as those who did not own a cow (108 g/d), and that if they were members of a community-based dairy group, which provided technical support, credit and promoted milk consumption, their milk consumption was two times higher again (267 g/d if their cow was dry or 500 g/d if their cow was currently producing milk).

3. Another study from Kenya similarly showed dietary benefits of cow ownership, but only when females owned or co-owned the cow. When males were sole owners of the cow, there was no dietary benefit.

4. A book was published by FAO in late 2013 thoroughly documenting the current evidence on milk and dairy in human nutritionand it reviews all the supporting literature. A concise summary appears on page 356: “Although well-designed dairy-development programmes appear to have improved nutrition and livelihoods, solid evidence is scarce.”

With the papers published since that book was written, and with the work we are carrying out in Bolivia, the gaps in the evidence base are slowly being filled in, so that soon we will understand the full potential of ASF, and how to best increase ASF intakes in vulnerable populations.